Nigeria not isolated from global changes, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday maintained that Nigeria is not isolated from the global changes taking place in the various sectors.

He spoke at the Presidential Villa, during the Presidential Parley with Participants of the Senior Executive Course No.39 (2017) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

According to him, Nigeria is being affected by changes in security, trade, technology, global warming and population demographics.

He said “Today, we are at a very critical juncture of history. The world, as we know it, is changing.

“I am sure you will all agree that in the first two decades of this century, we have seen significant shifts across the globe. Whether it is in security, trade, technology, global warming or population demographics, the world has truly changed.

“Nigeria is not isolated from these trends. We are doing our best to respond to these changes. But we cannot be comfortable with just being a passive nation. We must be proactive.

“Exactly one year ago, during my Parley with the Participants of the Senior Executive Course No.38, I tasked the Management of the National Institute with the responsibility of looking at Science, Technology and Innovation for the Development of Agriculture and Agro-Allied Industries.

“I was therefore very pleased to hear this proposal was adopted as the theme for Senior Executive Course 39.” he said

The National Institute, he noted, was created as a policy formation center where senior Nigerians from all segments of society work together with the common goal of making Nigeria better.

“I am pleased that the Participants of Course 39 focused one on how Nigeria can address its Food Security Challenges leveraging Science, Technology and Innovation.

“I have listened attentively to the presentation by the Course Participants and I am glad that the findings and policy recommendations are apt and implementable.

“Your submission has come at a time when Nigeria is recording significant successes in Agriculture and food security. However, we cannot afford to be complacent. We must develop strategies to sustain this momentum.

“Be assured that the economic management team will carefully study your Report and work towards implementing its recommendations.” he said

He said that his administration will also continue to address the challenges of the National Institute in both infrastructure and manpower for improved performance.

“On behalf of the Government and the people of Nigeria, I congratulate you for your patriotic efforts.”

The Acting Director General National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Senior Executive Course 39 (2017) participants. Jonathan Mela Juma said that the President has tasked the institute to look at ways and means that science and technology can impact on agriculture and Afro-allied industries.

He said “This is what we have been able to do, we have the report to him based on the 10 month period the participants undertook, study, research, travel, gather information, synthesis and then come up with this report.”

On challenges, he said “One we requested for direct intervention by Mr. President, it might not necessarily be from the budget, there are other revenues you can tap to be able to raise money and support for these tools. And one of these areas is the setting up of the endowment fund, if that is done it means we will have other sources other than what comes from the budget.

“We do recognize the fact that the budget is limited, there are other competing needs and so we cannot rely 100 percent on funding from the budget.

Asked to give figure of the debts the institute is owing, he said “I don’t have a figure but one of those areas in which we are indebted is power supply. The NERC just released new MYTO which means that power generators and distributors have increased their tariff by almost a hundred percent. When we started the year we didn’t anticipate that there will be this increase. And so, we have to contend with that and our suppliers will not listen to us because the budget did not take into account the increase. So these are liabilities we have accumulated and we have to find a way of dealing with it because we cannot do without power.

“In the national institute we operate virtually 24 hours, every minute of day and night they are participants working and so we must have 24 hours supply of power.

“So good enough we have NESCO that is very good in that area and couple with Jos electricity distribution company. And so we enjoy very good supply but we need to pay for those services.

“Mr. President has given us assurance that the funding needs of the national institute will be addressed. Particularly the need to address the decay infrastructure. We have requested for additional chalets for accommodation for directing staff. We hope that this will be resolved as soon as possible,” he said.